Nintendo Discusses Lessons Learned From E3 2009 Briefing

New Super Mario Bros. Wii wasn't presented well enough, Iwata says.

The general consensus seems to be that Nintendo's most recent E3 press conference went a bit better than it did in 2008. Nintendo isn't part of that consensus though, as Nintendo president Satoru Iwata outlined ways in which they could improve at a recent earnings call.

"As for the media briefing at E3, of course we had many internal discussions after that," Iwata said (via Nintendo Everything).

"Honestly speaking, none of us at Nintendo thought that our presentation at E3 was as good as it could have been. It is apparent that we could not fully convey the charm of our products."

"This year, however, with the New Super Mario Bros. Wii, four people lined up with Wii Remotes was not a scene that no one had ever seen," he said.

"Those who actually had the chance to play understood how the game would change with four people playing simultaneously, but we could not address that fun sentiment at the media briefing."

In that sense, Nintendo has "learned many lessons from this year's E3 show," Iwata said.

"Now we strongly feel that we need to look into finding a better way to demonstrate the products' appeal better at E3 in these times where more people are watching it online via web cast not only in the U.S. but all around the world, than the number of audience who actually watch it in the theatre."

In addition to finding a way to better demonstrate their products, Iwata said the other big lesson they took from E3 2009 revolved around the new colors for the Wii and the Nintendo DS.

"After the media briefing, we had a domestic trade briefing in Japan. There we disclosed the black Wii console and red Nintendo DSi, which made a big buzz among game fans."

Well i watched Nintendo's Conference..

and I thought it wasnt that bad, Ubisoft was the worst. The new super Mario game just didnt idk made me go out and buy a Wii. It showed Nintendo's True Color's that Mario is the only one that could keep the franchise going. Its sad but true, i was hoping to see the rumored 2D Metroid game for the DS, or an actual real Zelda game. At least they showed Kingdom Hearts there. All they really showed was Wii Sports, casual games, and that lie detector. Nintendo has really lost their Spark thru the years, thats pretty sad....

they need to collaborate w/

3rd parties, in my opinion. For example, Dead Space is going to have to bomb in the reviews for me not to seriously consider it, but the 360 version was such a nice surprise & extremely underrated, in my opinion.

If Nintendo had some input & promoted some 3rd parties together, it would help 3rd party sales, something every game company needs success in for longevity.

Iwata should spend less time...

wondering how to present things at NEXT YEAR'S E3 and spend more time thinking about how they are going to fill the void from lack of QUALITY games NOW, lack of MEMORY NOW, lack of ANY USE OF THE EXTRA USB PORT on the back of the Wii NOW, lack of HD when third party developers are capable of making Wii games HD with just a few key strokes NOW(Maramusa), lack of interest in it's Western consumers needs NOW, lack of content for the DSi(No video, no downloading ANYTHING other than whats on DSiWare, no intergration with DSi RAM to SD card RAM) NOW! There's a LOT to think about...other than yourselves Nintendo! Here's an idea...EARTHBOUND, ZELDA, KID ICARUS, KILLER INSTINCT, DUCK HUNT, PILOTWINGS, EXCITE BIKE or F-ZERO with PHOTOREALISTIC GRAPHICS! Any of these things could have helped your E3! SF4 for the Wii would have brought the house down! May sound crazy...but NOT IMPOSSIBLE!

Putting the Wii in Ennui?

Let's face it, the casual crowd that's become Nintendo's core demographic for the Wii isn't really the type who follow and care about E3 press announcements. All of us somewhat more cynical, and greatly more informed, 1UP readers probably are. I like charm and flair as much as the next guy, and I'm a fan of Mario and the Wii, but really it's all about the information - and the information they gave on NSMBW just didn't leave me all that excited.

Actually, scratch that. It DID leave me excited for about 2 seconds, before they revealed that the multiplayer elements are local only. I like the local multiplayer experience and all but with my friends scattered throughout the country, local multiplayer is really a thing of the past for me.

Also, I fail to see why this is a 50 dollar game. Given its retro style gameplay, modest production values, lack of online features, and probably fairly modest amount of content, this game is basically on par with a Steam, XBLA, or PSN game which would probably sell for about 20 bucks, 30 max. That's not a knock on the game - but to me NSMBW seems to have alot more in common with a Castle Crashers, Fat Princess, or Trine than to a 50 dollar "full" Mario experience like a Super Mario Galaxy.

I also like how he rubs in how the black Wii was announced in Japan to considerable buzz even though something totally silly and throw-away like that would have gone over pretty well in the US as well. Being that it costs them practically nothing, and stuff in the Game Boy line, iMacs, cell phones, mp3 players, etc prove that Americans DO like colors, it always baffles me why they offer such limited color choice to the US market (and when they do offer colors it's some weird-ass colors that no one wants or limited edition models that are more expensive).

Uh what the hell

The problem with the briefing was that it was too much business and not enough games. Forgetting that the games IS their business! Of the games that they did show, it was just a quick little blurg, video, then onto more business.

Microsoft I think, got it right when it came to their show. They had a lot of flash, lots of content and they focused mainly on their videogames and what kinds of things they're coming out with. To me, that showcases their business plan a lot better than spouting off numbers.

Sony, everyone on here knows I'm a Sony fanboy. I liked their presentation because it was well organized although they did go into the numbers, they didn't go crazy on it like Nintendo did. Sony showed a lot of videogames, their new PSP Go and trailers for games beyond the horizon. The important part is the largest emphasis on their conference was not the numbers but the games.

I think that for Nintendo to really do better next year, they had better watch the two conferences and see where they might improve. Because from the sound of it, they didn't learn a damn thing.

If you want equal support of casual and hardcore offerings...

...Just glue your Wii and PS3 together. There, it's a casual+hardcore console! The reason you see so many casual games on Wii is because there's a market for them. Gaming is no longer solely a niche hobby for those who spend 10 hours a day glued to their monitors/TV screens, some people want games they can just pick up, hand a controller to a friend who's never played before, and just *play.* (This is how it used to be, when games were all cardboard and plastic and you couldn't play by yourself. It's not a new idea.) The thing is, casual gaming is not bad for the industry, or for gamers. If anything, the trend towards HD, high poly count, processor-intensive "hardcore" games is worse, as it drives up development costs, making it harder for a developer to take a risk on a new idea... Sorry, I got sidetracked a bit there.

Anyway, people complain about lack of multiplayer in games, but when Nintendo takes one of the few 8-bit games which is still excellent even by today's standards, and adds true multiplayer to it for the first time, people complain again. I don't get it.

I look forward to playing NSMBW with people who haven't picked up a Mario game since the SNES. So sue me.

Protip: Read more than the game's title before passing judgement.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is not an enhanced port, or any sort of port. It's a new game, the first 2D Mario game to allow simultaneous multiplayer throughout the game... and since you probably dismissed NSMB on DS, I'll fill you in: even those scant few levels available in multiplayer were a lot of fun. The fact that you didn't grok this shows that Iwata was right; they didn't present it well enough.

The mention of new colors for Wii and DSi may seem trivial, but it's not their fault their fans love re-purchasing the same hardware in a different-colored shell.

The vitality sensor does seem like a lame idea overall, but the potential for horror games is somewhat worthwhile.